Alaska 2013: Girdwood to Denali (Day 7)

Day seven was another travel day for us, which was convenient since we were still sore and the weather was crappy. We started the day with a delicious homemade breakfast in the b&b dining room, joined by the other b&b guests. 

Note: This is the one part of the trip that I would change, if we ever go again. Instead of splitting the drive to Denali National Park into two days (Seward to Girdwood, Girdwood to Denali), as was suggested in many of the travel forums, I would condense it down to one day. Most forums claimed that the drive is long and unpredictable, and that there are tons of fun things to do along the way. However, we found that the drive was very manageable (only about 4 1/2 hours from Girdwood to Denali National Park). While we hit some road construction, we were only delayed a short while. Also, we weren't that interested in most of the (touristy) stops along the Parks Highway. We would have spent more time hiking and birding along the way, but it was pouring rain all day.

This was a necessary, but uneventful day. We drove straight through Anchorage and made our way through Wasilla (Sarah Palin's motherland). Moose are a big problem in the Anchorage and Wasilla area, evidently. We didn't see any on the road while we were driving, but we saw several signs like this along the way (not my photo):

Source

The drive was quite pretty, in spite of the rainy, gloomy day. Gas stations were few and far between. At one point, we were held up by road construction and had to follow a lead truck for several miles down a mess of a road. Jared and I both noticed the high number of female road construction workers, compared to what we're used to seeing in the lower 48.

As we got closer to Denali National Park, the landscape continued to change and the rain stopped. We could tell that we were surrounded by rugged, untamed wilderness. We reached the area mid-afternoon and decided to go straight to the park, rather than check in at our hotel.

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but I absolutely loved Denali National Park and hope we can return one day. The park is unique in that it limits visitors to reduce the impact on the animals and natural surroundings. Anyone can drive the first 15 miles of the park, but after that you either need to take a bus, walk, or ride a bike to explore the full 92 miles of dirt road. The roads only reach a tiny portion of the park, which is over six million acres in size.

Denali NP is also home to North America's tallest peak (20,320 feet), Mount McKinley (known to locals simply as "Denali"). Evidently, Alaskans have wanted to officially change the name of the mountain to Denali for several decades, and have even proposed it to Congress. The state of Ohio is having none of that, though, and has blocked the name change several times (note: Ohio is the birthplace of President William McKinley). It's an interesting story, if you care to read more about it.

Another unique feature of the park is that it has very few marked trails, but visitors are encouraged to explore and hike anywhere they please (except for certain closed areas). It sounds exciting, but in reality is rather daunting to the uninitiated. Where do you hike if you can go anywhere? How do you keep track of where you are (note: by being fully prepared with a compass and hiking safety kit)? What to do if you encounter animals? (You can tell I was a bit anxious about it, right?)

For this first trip, we mostly stayed on the buses, but we did get out and hike a few times, always staying close to the road. I would love to be more adventurous next time and plan some longer hikes, now that I know what to expect.

When we reached Denali NP, we first went to the Wilderness Access Center where we picked up the bus tickets I had reserved for the next three days. Note to anyone planning a trip to the park, you can get three bus tickets for the price of two if you call to reserve them ahead of time.

Next, we decided to check out the Visitor's Center to check if any rangers were knowledgeable about birds in the park. Unfortunately, no one we met during our entire stay in the park knew much about birds, to Jared's great disappointment. We tried our best on our own, but struck out with most of the rare birds that we were hoping to find.

After scoping out the Visitor's Center, we started our drive into the park, scanning the trees like maniacs searching for our first bird or large mammal. It's funny (and a little scary) to watch people's behavior in a park like Denali or Yellowstone. If anyone pulls over for any reason, everyone else assumes they see an animal and frantically block up the road to get a look. Jared pulled over several times just to scan the trees with his binoculars, and inevitably 10 cars would soon pull up behind/beside us.

The Savage River marked the end of the first 15 miles of drivable road, and we decided to park and walk the short trail along the river.

We saw our first Willow Ptarmigan, the state bird of Alaska, and she had babies in tow. We didn't end up seeing many birds or mammals after that, but would make up for it in the days to come.

 Willow Ptarmigan

 Mew Gull

 Arctic Ground Squirrel (wonder what it has in its cheeks??)

Finally, we drove to our hotel at McKinley Creekside Cabins, about 15 minutes south of the park. Our room was nice, but the walls were very thin and we could hear the rowdy kids next door each evening. Other than that, it was a fine place to stay.

Next up, our first bus trip into Denali...

Alaska 2013: Cooper Landing and Girdwood (Day 6)

The next morning (Sunday, June 30), I was in for an unpleasant surprise when I realized I could barely move my body out of bed. Every muscle seemed to ache and seize up. It normally takes my body a day or two to feel sore after physical activity, and the brutal hike two days earlier was just starting to leave its mark.

Jared was sore, too, but not to the same extent. This was by far the worst I had ever felt after exerting myself, and my body didn't fully recover until nearly a week later. Despite all of that, I would still do the Harding Icefield trail again...probably. No, definitely. No pain no gain, right?

Thankfully, the next two days were transition days for us to make our way up to Denali, so it didn't matter that I looked (and felt) like a lurching zombie. We packed up the car and said our goodbyes to Seward and the lovely Alaska Creekside Cabins.

We booked a bed and breakfast in Girdwood for Sunday evening to break up the long drive to Denali. Girdwood is only a couple of hours north of Seward (and just southeast of Anchorage), so we had the entire day to leisurely explore. We made several stops on our way out of Seward, including a stop at the Bear Creek fishing weir to view salmon swimming upstream.

A fishing weir is an obstruction in a body of water (like a river) that hinders the passage of fish. At this particular weir, the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association monitors the migrating salmon. June and July is prime season for spawning sockeye salmon, and we saw loads of fish making their way up the creek.

We also read that the creek is a great place to see American Dippers, one of our nemesis birds. We tried very hard to find a Dipper last summer in Colorado, but had no luck. Dippers are nondescript gray birds that feed in fast moving streams, like Bear Creek, by bobbing up and down in the water (or "dipping"). Within a minute or two of stopping at the creek, a Dipper landed on a rock right in front of us! We were not very prepared to take a photo at that moment, but we did manage to take a few before it flew away.

 American Dipper

We continued to make our way north and took a slight detour to Cooper Landing, which is on the edge of the Kenai River.

We decided to take a short excursion down a dirt road to look for birds and wildlife.

We saw a moose and a few good birds, including two Pacific Loons "dancing" together (a behavior pairs exhibit during mating season), several Bohemian Waxwings, and Boreal Chickadees.

 Pacific Loons dancing

 Pacific Loon

 Bohemian Waxwing

Boreal Chickadee

Later in the day, I saw a pair of bald eagles free falling together, another fascinating type of courtship behavior. It happened so quickly, I didn't have time to get a photo or video, but it was amazing.

We eventually made it into Girdwood around dinner time. After checking into our b&b, we went to the Girdwood Laundry Mall, which claims to be "voted the #1 Laundromat in America by Coin-Op Magazine."

It was a nice place with lots of artwork and friendly locals. We started a load of laundry and grabbed a yummy deep dish pizza from the restaurant next door (called Chair 5).

Alaska 2013: Kenai Fjords Large Boat Tour (Day 5)

I woke up the day after our long hike to the Harding Icefield much less sore than I expected. Still, I was glad that we had planned another boat trip, to give our bodies a chance to recover.

After eating a quick breakfast, we drove once again to the Seward harbor to check in for the Northwestern Fjords boat tour. We used the same company, Kenai Fjords tours, for this trip. This time, the boat was much larger, able to hold about 150 passengers. The route was similar to our first trip, except this tour goes farther into the park, all the way to the Northwestern glacier.

I had read that if you want a good seat, you should get in line early on the dock. This turned out to be true, especially since the boat was packed. Luckily, we were able to snag a nice table inside on the top deck. Though we were out on the rails for much of the nine hour trip, it was great to have the option to rest and sit inside when we needed.

The captain on this tour (I wish I could remember his name) was fabulous. It was clear that he had a lot of experience finding and identifying marine animals. Even better, he seemed genuinely interested in finding birds for the few birders on board, to Jared's great delight.

The most exciting part of the tour was a young humpback whale breaching several times around us. It was swimming with its mom, who calmly surfaced every once in a while to breathe. The baby, however, was feeling playful and would burst out of the water every minute or so. This was one of the highlights of our entire Alaska trip.

 

We also saw several pods of orcas again, this time even closer than before. One large male swam right under our boat.

The Northwestern Glacier was simply beautiful. We watched an ice waterfall flow down the glacier for several minutes.

We also saw several Harbor Seals perched on the chunks of ice.

On the way back to Seward, we stopped in a beautiful alcove with waterfalls all around us.

Our captain also took us by the Chiswell Islands, where we saw more nesting birds and Steller's Sea Lions. 

Toward the end of the trip, the captain decided to take us out farther into the open sea, to give us a chance to see additional birds and wildlife. It paid off almost immediately! We saw several Fin whales, which are the second largest species of whale behind the Blue whale. We also saw more birds that Jared was excited about, including a likely Short-tailed Shearwater.

Once we got back to Seward, we decided to briefly check out the Alaska Sea Life Center. They had many fun exhibits, including a marine bird exhibit where you could watch them dive underwater.

After that, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at a local restaurant, the Railway Cantina. The halibut burrito and tacos were excellent.

We wrapped up the day by grabbing our s'mores supplies and hanging out with friends we met on the boat. The guy is an avid birder like Jared, so they had fun spotting together throughout the day.

We were sad that it was our last evening in Seward, but excited for the next half of the trip....